Los Angeles -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Michael Jackson died while preparing to set a world record for the most successful concert run , but he unknowingly set another record that led to his death .

Jackson may be the only human ever to go two months without REM -- rapid eye movement -- sleep , which is vital to keep the brain and body alive . The 60 nights of propofol infusions Dr. Conrad Murray said he gave Jackson to treat his insomnia is something a sleep expert says no one had ever undergone .

`` The symptoms that Mr. Jackson was exhibiting were consistent with what someone might expect to see of someone suffering from total sleep deprivation over a chronic period , '' Dr. Charles Czeisler , a Harvard Medical School sleep expert , testified Friday at the wrongful-death trial of concert promoter AEG LIve .

The symptoms documented by e-mails among show producers and testimony from his chef , hairstylist and choreographers included his inability to do standard dances or remember words to songs he sang for decades , paranoia , talking to himself and hearing voices , and severe weight loss , Czeisler said .

`` I believe that that constellation of symptoms was more probably than not induced by total sleep deprivation over a chronic period , '' he testified .

Propofol disrupts the normal sleep cycle and offers no REM sleep , yet it leaves a patient feeling refreshed as if they had experienced genuine sleep , according to Czeisler .

If the singer had not died on June 25 , 2009 , of an overdose of the surgical anesthetic , the lack of REM sleep may have taken his life within days anyway , according Czeisler 's testimony Friday .

Lab rats die after five weeks of getting no REM sleep , he said . It was never tried on a human until Murray gave Jackson nightly propofol infusions for two months .

Translating that to a human , Czeisler estimated , Jackson would have died before his 80th day of propofol infusions . Murray told police he had given it to him for 60 nights before trying to wean him off it on June 22 , 2009 -- three days before his death .

Czeisler -- who serves as a sleep consultant to NASA , the CIA and the Rolling Stones -- testified Thursday that the `` drug-induced coma '' induced by propofol leaves a patient with the same refreshed feeling of a good sleep but without the benefits that genuine sleep delivers in repairing brain cells and the body .

`` It would be like eating some sort of cellulose pellets instead of dinner , '' he said . `` Your stomach would be full , and you would not be hungry , but it would be zero calories and not fulfill any of your nutrition needs . ''

Depriving someone of REM sleep for a long period of time makes them paranoid , anxiety-filled , depressed , unable to learn , distracted and sloppy , Czeisler testified . They lose their balance and appetite while their physical reflexes get 10 times slower and their emotional responses 10 times stronger , he said .

Those symptoms are strikingly similar to descriptions of Jackson in his last weeks , as described in e-mails from show producers and testimony by witnesses in the trial .

Jackson 's mother and children are suing AEG Live , contending that the company is liable in his death because it hired , retained or supervised Murray , who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter . They argue that the promoter pressured Murray to get Jackson to rehearsals while failing to get Jackson help despite numerous red flags warning that he was in trouble .

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AEG Live lawyers contend that it was Jackson who chose , hired and supervised Murray , and their executives had no way of knowing about the dangerous propofol treatments administered in the privacy of Jackson 's rented mansion .

A very long question

Czeisler was back on the witness stand Friday to answer a question that was asked just as court ended Thursday . Jackson lawyer Michael Koskoff asked his expert what may also be a record-breaker in a trial : a 15-minute-long hypothetical question .

He was asked to render an opinion based on a long list of circumstances presented so far in the trial about Jackson 's condition and behavior , including :

• That Murray administered propofol to Jackson 60 consecutive nights before June 22 , 2009 .

• That Murray began to wean Jackson from propofol on June 22 , 2009 , and gave him none of the drug on June 23 .

• That a paramedic who tried to revive him the day he died initially assumed he was a hospice patient .

• That show producers reported Jackson became progressively thinner and paranoid and was talking to himself in his final weeks .

• That the production manager warned that Jackson had deteriorated over eight weeks , was `` a basket case '' who he feared might hurt himself on stage and could not do the multiple 360-degree spins that he was known for .

• That show director Kenny Ortega wrote that Jackson was having trouble `` grasping the work '' at rehearsals and needed psychiatric help .

• That Jackson needed a teleprompter to remember the words to songs he had sung many times before over several decades .

• That show workers reported the singer was talking to himself and repeatedly saying that `` God is talking to me . ''

• That Jackson was suffering severe chills on a summer day in Los Angeles and his skin was cold as ice to the touch .

Lawsuit evidence : Michael Jackson lost dance moves in last days

Jackson lawyers revised the question Friday morning after AEG Live lawyers objected to the information about Murray 's nightly propofol treatments , since it was derived only from the doctor 's statement to police after Jackson 's death . The judge previously ruled that statement inadmissible .

Instead , they brought up evidence that Murray ordered more than four gallons of propofol between April and June , which Czeisler said equaled 155,000 milliliters of the drug . An anesthesiologist uses between 20 and 30 milliliters to induce a coma for surgery , he said .

The expert testified that his review of Jackson 's medical records convinced him that the singer suffered a chronic sleep disorder that `` was greatly exaggerated '' while he was on tour or preparing for a tour .

Jackson died just two weeks before he would have traveled to London for the premiere of his `` This Is It '' comeback concerts , produced and promoted by AEG Live .

A lecture on sleep

Jurors appeared quite interested as Czeisler lectured them Thursday on his sleep research , including an explanation of circadian rhythm : the internal clock in the brain that controls the timing of when we sleep and wake and the timing of the release of hormones

`` That 's why we sleep at night and are awake in the day , '' he said .

Your brain needs sleep to repair and maintain its neurons every night , he said .

Blood cells cycle out every few weeks , but brain cells are for a lifetime , he said .

`` Like a computer , the brain has to go offline to maintain cells that we keep for life , since we do n't make more , '' he said . `` Sleep is the repair and maintenance of the brain cells . ''

CNN Health : Sleep

An adult should get seven to eight hours of sleep each night to allow for enough sleep cycles , he said .

You `` prune out '' unimportant neuron connections and consolidate important ones during your `` slow-eyed sleep '' each night , he said . Those connections -- which is the information you have acquired during the day -- are consolidated by the REM sleep cycle . Your eyes actually dart back and forth rapidly during REM sleep .

`` In REM , we are integrating the memories that we have stored during slow-eyed sleep , integrating memories with previous life experiences , '' he said . `` We are able to make sense of things that we may not have understood while awake . ''

Learning and memory happen when you are asleep , he said . A laboratory mouse rehearses a path through a maze to get to a piece of cheese while asleep .

The area of a basketball player 's brain that is used to shoot a ball will have much greater slow-eyed sleep period since there is more for it to store , he said . Players shoot better after sleep .

The Portland Trailblazers consulted with him after they lost a series of East Coast basketball games , he said . He was able to give their players strategies for being sharper when traveling across time zones .

He 's worked with the Rolling Stones on their sleep problems , he said . Musicians are vulnerable since they are often traveling across time zones and usually `` all keyed up '' to perform at night , he said .

Czeisler developed a program for NASA to help astronauts deal with sleep issues in orbit , where they have a sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes .

Other clients include major industries that are concerned about night shift workers falling asleep on the job , the CIA , the Secret Service and the U.S. Air Force , he said .

Jackson lawyers argue that AEG Live should have consulted a sleep expert like Czeisler for Jackson instead of hiring Murray -- a cardiologist -- for $ 150,000 to treat the artist .

The trial ends its eighth week in a Los Angeles courtroom Friday . Lawyers estimate that the case will conclude in early August .

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NEW : Expert says Jackson could 've died within days even without overdose

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Jackson may be the only human ever to go two months without REM sleep , expert says

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Lab rats die after five weeks of no REM sleep , expert says

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Propofol deprives patient of vital REM sleep , Dr. Charles Czeisler testifies